Speaking of pay people more, get more work done….It works, up to a point…As long as the company can afford it. Google can get away with this, up to a point of their profitability…And only people highly specialized and talented. Simple supply and demand. The majority of the people in the workforce, are not really special, including even me. And the market price will adjust for that. Same goes for garlic pickers.
One Reason Staffers Quit Google’s Car Project? The Company Paid Them So Much
‘F-you money’ awarded to veteran team members boosted parent Alphabet’s R&D costs, prompting comment from the company’s CFO
The unorthodox system started in 2010, soon after Google unveiled its first self-driving vehicle. It was constructed to tie employees’ fortunes to the performance of the project, rather than Google’s advertising money machine. In addition to cash salaries, some staffers were given bonuses and equity in the business and these awards were set aside in a special entity. After several years, Google applied a multiplier to the value of the awards and paid some or all of it out. The multiplier was based on periodic valuations of the division, the people said.
The precise metrics that the division was measured by– and caused the bonuses to balloon– are not known. But by 2015, the Google car project had come a long way: Google’s vehicles had logged more than one million autonomous miles; car companies including Toyota Motor Corp. and Tesla Inc. announced their own plans to develop autonomous systems; and analysts predicted the technology would transform the auto industry.
A large multiplier was applied to the compensation packages in late 2015, resulting in multi-million dollar payments in some cases, according to the people familiar with the situation. One member of the team had a multiplier of 16 applied to bonuses and equity amassed over four years, one of the people said. They asked not to be identified talking about private matters.